Monday, November 7, 2011

Going Green going nowhere

Back before the EPA and all those health regulations that Teapublicans despise, the average life expectancy was much lower. Cancer rates were higher, infant mortality way up, disease, disorders, and overall health and cleanliness were relatively abysmal. Thankfully, we've had laws and limitations on the outpouring of toxic chemicals into our air, water, soil, and eventually bodies. The result of this is that we live in a cleaner, safer, more sustainable way.

Unfortunately, not all of our messes have been picked up, and in fact, there are many who want to send us back to the days of burning rivers, deforested hills, and choking smog. Reading this article, you get the sense that we're a long way from really cleaning ourselves up.

When you consider the kind of fight conservatives are putting up over "green" stuff, you might wonder why that is. After all, going green, using clean and renewable energy, and maintaining our planet seem like they should be top priorities, if for no other reason than that, once we burn a gallon of gas we can't get it back, and gas is a non-renewable resource so we will run out eventually.

Well, to the conservative mind, green energy and technology means rising costs of business and lowering profits. It means outpacing our current technology that makes them wealthy in favor of an energy system that does not. To them, it's overtaxing business, and not allowing them to dump their waste wherever they please, which is good for the bottom line.

Once again, I want to say that this is the only planet we get. This is the only ball of dirt and dust that we can ever hope to populate. We don't have unlimited supplies of our most valuable resources, so we have to learn to use what we do have large amounts of to our best ability. The short-sightedness of conservatives is mind-boggling in this regard. They are more concerned about their money today than the lives of all humanity tomorrow. What do they think is going to happen when they allow big business to trash the planet? That all those chemicals and toxins in our air, water, and soil will simply have no ill effects? Or that the world will somehow take care of itself? They ignore evidence of global warming, they ignore evidence of carcinogens in our environment, they ignore their own impact through fossil fuel burning and ecosystem disruption. This is not a game of dollars and sense, or at least it shouldn't be.

About Me

I'm a political junkie, reading addict, poet, Liberal. I'm pro-choice, pro-freedom, optimistic, and try to be fair. I've been blogging for a few years now, and I follow a number of news sites. My posts are sometimes sporadic, but I try to check them on a regular basis.